Today is a very rare interview on the SEP blog, but one I felt would be very worthwhile having. Rob Kerry (aka EvilGreenMonkey) is the Editor of Sphinn, and one of Danny Sullivan’s right hand people!

Rob and Lisa

Lately there has been some ruckus on Sphinn, and of course I piped in and gave my two cents worth, saying I thought it was all just a matter of a communication breakdown. I didn’t think the channels were fully open for dialogue.

00:00 - Digg goes down for maintenance. When it comes back, something has changed…

01:00  - The Digg Algorithm has Changed

"Digg went down today for a short time.  The results may be that many diggers will go down for a long time."

12:15 - Two Diggs One Cup

"Digg has pretty much taken a crap in a cup, and asked everyone, including even the top diggers, to partake in the offering. It now takes (barring a miracle, or a massive, collective pre-planned quick-strike diggfest), around 200 diggs to go popular, which leaves many (including me) to wonder… is Digg TRYING to drive away users, and if so, why?"

Update available here

If the Blu-ray copyright issue is any indication, a storm is a brewing over at Digg.

A storm that has users up in arms.

In the course of an hour, during which Digg went offline on Wednesday (Jan. 23), Digg has strengthened changes which make it harder for a story to go popular.

Used to be 100 Diggs could get you front page. No more. For some power users it can now take up to 200 Diggs before going popular.

Affiliate Marketing today is so much more than what it used to be, when simply having someone place your banner on their website to drive traffic was the norm.  Back in the day, your banner would catch someones eye, they would click on it, and you would pay the person displaying your banner for each click that came through to your site from theirs.  (Not so different from Pay Per Click on the search engines today).

Cartoon Courtesy of: http://www.marketingmentor.net

Groupthink is fairly common in the board room but more and more I’m starting to see it in social media too.

Groupthink is defined as “a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas.”

Basically what this means is that people will avoid putting forth opinions or viewpoints that are not likely to be popular with the group.

Groupthink has been thought to be the cause of such major disasters such as the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster and the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

All around good guy and internet marketing guru Matt McGee today announced the launch of the SEMMYs … the search industry’s equivalent of the EMMY’s.

The EMMYs are described as; an annual awards event honoring some of the best articles and blog posts from the search marketing industry, as voted by the industry. We have 127 authors nominated, representing 111 blogs/sites.

There are 15 categories for awards:

• SEO
• PPC
• Small Business
• Local Search
• Google
• Blogs & Blogging
• Link Building
• Social Media
• Analytics
• Search Tech
• Rants

The Scenario:

What will ultimately replace search engines?

This is a question I am asked frequently, and therefore have given considerable thought to. Ultimately, whatever it is, it has to compensate for the weaknesses of search though right? So, what are the weaknesses of search relative to the ideal search solution (he says knowing that we’ll never stop searching for things we need, so search itself will never die, only transform into something more efficient)?

At its core, Delicious is simply a bookmarking system. It’s a place to store all those links that are too much to be in your “Favorites” folder. What makes it so useful is its one of those technologies that has a simple interface. What makes it so compelling is it’s ability to do so much more; keep, discover, share, research and collaborate from any computer.

This week I take a look at Delicious, by the numbers.

The Beginning:

Credit: PsychoFish

Of all the social networks I participate in, Linkedin is perhaps one of the most versatile in returning a tangible benefit to its users. Like the old adage ‘its know what you know, it’s who you know’, one’s level of engagement as a Linkedin user is a clear indication of their networking skills.

In my humble opinion, every established and up and coming professional ought to have a Linkedin profile and actively try to build it up for establishing their own brand equity of sorts. What better way to form an impression on current or future employers than to show active engagement with industry mavens, participation in questions and answers, and endorsements from professionals from all walks of life?

This post is Part II of a III part series on How to Improve Your Digg Profile. The first post in the series focused on ‘How to Make Yourself More Attractive’ from a Digg perspective, to improve your chances of being accepted as a trusted friend on Digg. So, now that you’ve absorbed all that advice, and incorporated the necessary changes, you’re ready to go ‘friending’.

This post will focus specifically on ‘friending’; meaning finding and approaching the ‘Right’ Friends on Digg since its about quality not quantity. Much as you want the right tools for a job, you also want the right people for a job.